Powerline communications (PLC) include systems for communicating data over the same medium (i.e., a wire or conductor) that is also used to transmit electric power to residences, buildings, and other premises. Once deployed, PLC systems may enable a wide array of applications, including, for example, automatic meter reading and load control (i.e., utility-type applications), automotive uses (e.g., charging electric cars), home automation (e.g., controlling appliances, lights, etc.), and/or computer networking (e.g., Internet access), to name only a few.
A PLC network includes a plurality of nodes, generally including a base (or concentrator) node and a plurality of service nodes (including switch nodes and terminal nodes) configured in a tree-like configuration. During network operation, some nodes in the PLC network may witness a high rate of incoming frames causing the conventional single data buffer which provides memory for both transmission data and reception data, or their receive buffer for separate transmission buffer and reception buffer embodiments, to become full. Once the data buffer for receiving data is full, the communication device at the node will not be able to receive any incoming frames sent from other network nodes, which will result in dropped frame(s), as well as the retransmission of the dropped frames by the sender node(s). A known data flow control (hereafter “flow control”) mechanism used in conventional PLC networks involves having the sender node device defer its transmissions for a fixed period of time after the sender node receives an indication from the receiving node that the receive node's data buffer is full.